The Laws of Retaliation
by KatalystSky
Summary: Team RNJR is attacked in Mistral after the season finale of vol4. An eye for an eye. Contains Renora, hurt!ruby, and snowbird if ya squint (I held back) and we see some old faces too. This was requested by LadyBritish. Can be seen as a continuation of Lotus Blossoms
1. An Eye for an Eye

The markets of Mistral were bustling, busy places. Vendors everywhere selling just about anything one could need. Ren and Nora laughed together, browsing the food stalls hand-in-hand. They radiated an aura of joy and love, something so rare to see at this time. They were seeking out the best ingredients for pancakes. It would be the first time in months that the group could enjoy the treat together. He was determined to treat his friends after all they had been through together, after what they had accomplished. He would get syrup and fruit and the freshest eggs on the market, and he would try to keep Nora from eating them all on the way back to their temporary residence.

Nora had released his hand to wander off and admire a row of cakes and tarts. He smiled at her lovingly and continued to browse the stalls for what he needed. He took a moment to analyze where the rest of his team was. Nora was looking at cakes, Jaune was over by the map stall near the weapon stall where Ruby was browsing. He saw someone approaching Ruby and he watched cautiously, readying himself just in case.

Ruby was admiring the beautifully crafted blades and the hearty stock of ammunition that she was pretty sure wasn't entirely legal. She eyed one of the packs of dust rounds and felt a pang of sadness when she saw the Schnee Dust Company logo. She missed Weiss. They may not have started off on the right foot, but Weiss was her partner. They always had each other's' backs. Ruby couldn't help but wish that her own team could have joined her on this journey.

She shook the thought from her head. She tried not to focus on her friends, even though she missed them dearly. She purchased a couple rounds and put them in her bag then turned to leave. She was startled to find that she almost knocked over an elderly woman in her motion to leave. The woman was very old and frail, her eyes glazed over with a milky white film. She wore tattered clothes and hunch slightly. She smiled at Ruby, showing her few remaining teeth.

"My dear, you have such beautiful eyes." the woman rasped, placing a hand on Ruby's cheek.

"Uh, umm. Thank you, ma'am." Ruby responded, unsure of what else to do in the situation.

"I used to have beautiful eyes too, you know." The woman sighed solemnly. Ruby felt a wave of pity for her.

"What happened?" she asked, heart full of sympathy.

 **"You did."** The old woman hissed. She stood straight suddenly and towered over Ruby. Her eyes became ringed with flames and the disguise disappeared to reveal Cinder Fall, standing before her with her eyes full of hate. She grabbed Ruby by the throat and Ruby let out a yelp.

Jaune looked over to see the source of the noise and dropped the map he had been looking at. He saw one of his strongest and wisest best friends, the brave and strong Ruby Rose, being held up by her throat. Not just by anyone, by the woman who had killed _Pyrrha._ He jump as he heard a deafening thud and a sickening crunch. Cinder had thrown her down onto one of the tables at the weapons stall. He wasn't entire sure that the crunch had only come from the table. She stood over Ruby summoned a flame to her hand. She leaned in to Ruby and whispered.

"An eye for an eye." Cinder rasped. She let the flame flicker and go, spreading over her palm and then she pointed it towards Ruby who threw her arm up to protect her. Fire spewed forth like the breath of a dragon. It burned Ruby's face and chest. She could feel the wood beneath her begin to take the flames and ignite. She wanted to move but she couldn't. Every time she moved anything she was pushed back harder with the gushing flames. She could smell her hair burning and she could not open her eyes. Suddenly the burning stopped. The heat was still there but the flames weren't hitting her any more. She tried to open her eyes to see what had happened but she could not.

"Ruby, run!"

Jaune called back to Ruby, encouraging her to get away while he strained against shield to block the flames from hitting her. He his shield extended as far as it could. He ducked so that his head was protected from the flames, sadly his feet and lower legs did not fair as well. He kept pushing forward, determined to push her back and protect Ruby. He was _not_ letting this woman take away another person that he cared about.

Ruby began crawling backwards, favoring her right arm. She tried to ignore the raging pain that covered her body and the taunting darkness of faintness that was attempting to takeover. She was sure she would have been crying had her eyes not been so badly burned. She had no idea where to go, she couldn't see safety. She listened. She could still hear Jaune and Cinder fighting and people running in fear, but she could also hear something else. A bird call.

She crawled towards the sound. The bird cawed again and again, each time moving further and further away. She moved to follow it and she realized that it was getting cooler. The bird was leading her away from the fight. Suddenly it stopped crowing and she heard a light *thunk* and suddenly she was being carried. Not long after the call to unconsciousness became too overwhelming and she fell to its mercy.

"C'mere kiddo. It's okay, I gotcha." Qrow whispered as he carried her to safety.

Nora looked in shock at the fight breaking out. Why had Ruby let Cinder get so close to her? She didn't understand. She moved to help her when suddenly she felt a hand grip hers. She looked over and saw Ren pulling her back. She made a desperate face and tugged at his hand but he didn't move. She looked over and saw Jaune protecting Ruby with his shield as she crawled away.

He was pushing forward against the flames getting closer and closer to Cinder. He grabbed for his sword and quickly swung it out under his shield, catching Cinder hard in the leg. She fell back slightly in pain, then brought herself up into the air to rain fire down upon him.

Ren saw a shimmer again and knew that something must have happened. Jaune looked lost and confused and began slashing to his right and his left, leaving him completely exposed to the fire ball thrown at him from above. Ren caught sight of some familiar green hair peeking from behind one of the overturned stalls.

"I will take out the distraction, you know what to do." he said. Nora nodded and they split up.

Ren ran forward to the stall Emerald was hiding behind and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her up to face him. She smiled guiley and then vanished. He heard steady footsteps approaching behind him and he turned to face the real Emerald, tailed by Mercury. Ren readied his weapons only to have them kicked out of his hand. The real Mercury quickly flipped and stood on his hands to deal a solid kick to Ren's face. Suddenly there were dozens of Mercuries. Hundreds. Ren focused hard, shielding himself from their kicks as best he could. He hoped he didn't have to wait too much longer for-

"Kyaahahaha!" *THUMP* _*Crash*_

The other Mercuries disappeared and cleared his view. His beautiful girlfriend was standing over a now unconscious Emerald, hammer in hand with a proud, beaming smile. He nodded approvingly and then turned back to his opponent. They squared up to fight.

Jaune was hurting and confused. Grimm were surrounding him on all sides, completely unaffected by his weapon. They came out of nowhere, but whenever he tried to fight one off he was hit with a ball of fire. He raised his shield to protect himself and he would be hit lower, or on a different side. Then suddenly all of the Grimm were gone. He looked around and caught sight of Ren and Nora engaging Cinder's cronies. " _Thanks guys."_

He began to turn to fight Cinder but decided against it. He pretended that he was still under the illusion. He shouted and cowered and raised his shield up high and facing the remains of the weapon stand. He spied a round metal shield, similar to the one Pyrrha had used but polished and silver instead of red and gold. He felt a pang in his chest but he braced himself. If he timed this right, he could have all the vengence that he wanted.

Ren and Nora darted and dashed from his bullets, finding themselves a little outmatched without the element of surprise. A huge cloud of bullets circled around, like the souls of the dead swirling in the abyss. Nora took Ren by the hand and pulled him out of the way of a direct hit. Suddenly, Ren heard something he looked at Nora. " _Do you hear that?"_ She nodded. " _Yes"_

Qrow ran through the alleyways and empty streets until he reached his destination. He couldn't believe that this was the residence of the last person he could trust Ruby's life with. He shook his head and grinned slyly. " _Well the best thing to cure a burn is with something cold, and she's the coldest person I know."_ He knocked on the door.

"Ice Queen, open up." He begged-ehem- pleaded. Who was he kidding, he was desperate. The door opened a chink and Winter Schnee looked out at him with disdain.

"What is it _now._ " She rolled her eyes. He moved back so that she could see the girl in his arms.

"Help." He said, hating the taste of the words. Her eyes widened momentarily and she opened the door.

She cleared off the table and laid down a towel in the hopes of making the girl a little more comfortable. She motioned for Qrow to put her down and then went upstairs to fetch some supplies. Winter was so calm and calculated when she needed to be, the only exception being when he got to rile her up. He chuckled. Still, he was glad she was willing to help him after how much of a bastard he had been to her. He looked at his poor, burnt niece. He kisses the top of her right hand, the least burnt and broken part of her that he could see. He knew she would pull through, but seeing her get thrown like a ragdoll had brought back too many bad memories. She looked so much like her mother after all...

Winter came back down the stairs with a bag of Atlas military grade medical supplies, a clutch of cloths, and a white nightgown. Qrow smiled, he knew he came to the right place. She rolled her eyes and placed a cool water compress on Ruby's face and chest and grabbed one of her arms. She rubbed very gently at the arm with a cloth in an attempt to remove the pieces of cloth that had melted onto the girl's flesh when she shielded herself. Winter turned to Qrow as she worked.

"Why did you come here, Branwen." She asked sternly.

"Same reason you are, I had classified business in Mistral." He shrugged.

"That's not what I'm asking Qrow. Why did you bring her _here_ , to _me_. Surely you could have taken her to the hospital or something! I barely have more medical training than you and my supplies are nowhere near as good as theirs-"

"I trust you more than I can trust any of the doctors in Mistral. Especially with Ruby. It's hard to trust anyone any more but I know you care. Hell, you've even saved my life before. Besides, I'm nothing but bad luck. Literally." He huffed, sitting down and taking a much need swig from his flask. Winter nodded with a slight blush but quickly regained his composure.

"I appreciate your sentiment, and I will strive to care of her as best I can." She nodded

"Good, 'cuz I gotta go help her buddies. I'm sure they're doing just fine without me hanging around and holding 'em back. But just in case. I'll be back for her later Ice Queen, I'll see you then." Qrow winked and then slid out the door, headed back into the fray. Winter rolled her eyes.

"Ruby Rose, your uncle is the bane of my existence." she sighed at the girl.

"Yeah, but you seem to care about him anyway. Just like me and Weiss!" the burnt girl responded quietly, causing Winter to jump in fright.

"You're awake!"

Nora fired her grenades at Mercury, then began swinging wildly. He fought her hard, kicking her back towards an alley. She struggled to move forward but it was no use. She swung her hammer back for a hard hit but he kicked her in the chest before she could deliver the blow. She flew back, smashing through a bunch of stalls and landing back in the alley. Ren jumped on Mercury's back while he was distracting but was promptly thrown off and into the alley. They both stood up, walking to the entrance of the alley, hand-in-hand.

"Why don't you two love birds just give up already. Tell you what, if you quit now I'll make it painless. I'll kill you at the same time so you don't have to miss each other." Merc cackled. Ren scowled.

"That sounds _lovely_ and all, but I have a better idea." Nora smiled.

"Oh yeah, I'm all ears." Merc raised and eyebrow. Nora cocked her head to one side.

"I kind of doubt that, 'cuz if you were, you would've seen this coming a while ago." She giggle and decked him in the face, causing him to stumble back. Blood roared in his ears as loud as a nearby motorcycle. Or he had thought it was blood, until the motocycle hit him. He jumped up, a little unsteadily, and prepared to lunge at the pair.

"Why you-" *BAP* The black and yellow ball of metal caught him in the temple before he could leave the ground. He crumpled to the ground.

"Heya handsome, check it out. We're a little more evenly matched now. Oh and by the way…" Yang trailed off looking down at his legs, "I owe you a little something from our last fight." She looked over at an excited Nora with a red-eyed wink and then broke both of his legs, then punch him below the belt, and then in his face. Ren ran over and grabbed Yang's arm to calm her. She blinked for a moment and her eyes changed back to their normal lilac. Nora hugged her.

"Yang! I can't believe you're okay! I'm so glad you're here! You really helped us out." She jumped.

"Hey, no worries. I saw that ass coming up in my line of sight and I knew what to do. The fact that it helped you just makes it that much better." Yang shrugged. Ren stood between them.

"As happy I am that you're back, we should probably help Jaune."

Jaune pretended to be fighting off his fake pack of Beowulves, all the while keeping the reflective shield in his line of sight. He took a couple more hits, but watched carefully as Cinder slowly descend until she was hovering just above the ground. He was sure that her leg must be hurt pretty badly, even with the help of her magic and aura. He moved slightly so that she couldn't see the mirror shield. He heard people approaching but he didn't dare stop fighting his fake Grimm to look at who it was. He heard shouts and snuck a look at the reflection. Cinder had her back to him, focusing momentarily on pushing his friends back. He saw Cinder ignite a flame in her hand, just as she had done before to Ruby. She aimed at Ren and Nora and fired away. Jaune took advantage of her distraction and put his sword in his sheath and activating its broadsword ability.

Nora looked in horror as the stream of fire heading towards herself and Ren and she began to pull him away from the flame. Before she could do that, however, Yang stepped out in front of them to take the blaze. She caught fire immediately. Nora held on to Ren and watched, unable to take her eyes off of her. Yang shot them a red-eyed wink and Nora sighed in relief. " _It's just her semblance."_

Suddenly the fire stopped. The trio turned around to look at Cinder. She had a dazed, blank look on her face. She was leaning back heavily, rested against Jaune's shoulder. His broadsword protruded from her chest, right where her heart should be. Jaune looked disgusted, but moreso at her actions than his.

"That one's for Pyrrha," he scowled, then pressed the button on his shield to bring it to full size.

"That one's for Ruby." He spit as the shield separated her top from her bottom. Yang looked at him in shock, semblance flaring.

" _What_ about Ruby?"

Ruby woke up again feeling a lot better. The heat from the burns were not as bad now. Winter had run a cool bath for her to soak in and gave her some medicine for the pain. Ruby's left arm had been broken, which was beyond Winter's abilities but she set it as best she could. Ruby was very grateful. She hadn't realized that Weiss' sister could care so much. She was very militant and precise when she spoke, but Ruby could feel how careful she was being. Winter had dried and gently wrapped some of her minor burns and then dressed her in a soft white night gown. As Winter began bandaging the worse burns on her outer extremities, there was a knock at the door. Winter rose to answer it.

"Back already Qrow? I thought it would have taken longer… You're not Branwen."

Qrow flew as fast as he could to help the kids. He could hear shouting and fighting and shooting. He also heard another familiar sound. A motor. _Yang's_ motor. He smiled, then flinched slightly as he saw her run over the silver guy. " _That's my little firecracker, always brash and reckless enough to try and save the day."_ He returned to bird form and perched by the incapacitated pair of henchmen. " _Maybe this will be all the help they need from me. Just a little bit of bad luck."_

Weiss knocked on the door. She hoped Winter was still there, it _had_ been a while since their last contact. She knocked again and was happy to hear her sister's voice.

"Back already Qrow? I thought it would have taken longer… You're not Branwen." Winter stopped and stared at her sister in shock. She opened the door and beckoned her in. Weiss looked at her oddly.

"Qrow..? Why are you expecting…?" Weiss trailed off as she spotted Ruby laying on the couch, bandaged and burned. She looked at Winter who pulled her into the other room.

" **Why is Ruby in you sitting room!** " Weiss whisper-shouted. Winter gave her a look.

"Is that how you're going to greet your sister after 7 months of separation?" Winter grinned.

Weiss was shocked. This was very out of character for Winter. She was smiling, and happy, and not in her uniform. She also had Ruby in her sitting room covered in burns and bandages. Weiss embraced her sister and began to tear up, but she fought the urge and looked at her sister, wanting answers.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened myself. She told me a bit of what happened, which is more than her uncle had done. Mostly first and second degree burns, except around her eyes. She can hardly open them." Winter explained. "Now _I_ want answers. How did you get away from father? _Why_ did you leave?"

"Well…" Weiss started, but was soon interrupted by another knock at the door. This time it was Qrow. Winter told Weiss to go in and see Ruby while she spoke with Qrow. Weiss did as she was told.

She crept into the room where her partner was resting. The skin that she could see was burnt and taught, surely rough and thickened from the heat. Her eyelids were scaled and thick, hardly movable any more. Weiss reached for the hand that wasn't in a sling and stroked the back of it lightly. She smiled. She had missed her friend. She looked closely at Ruby. She looked rough, war-torn and battered. Weiss could tell it wasn't all _just_ from this fight either. She couldn't even begin to imagine what she had been through these past months.

"Oh Ruby, I'm glad you're okay." Weiss sighed. The hand she held gripped her own.

"Weiss? Omigosh is that really you?" Ruby asked enthusiastically, eyes squinting open.

"Oh no, I must look terrible. Even worse than I did after we met. Awh man, now you really _can_ call me Crater Face." Ruby sighed.

Weiss smiled but before she could say anything else the room was flooded with people. She was pushed back by a blaze of blonde and she gasped and the sight of an energetic Yang Xiao Long, hugging her sister with two hands. She looked over to the others and saw Jaune, tall and strong and covered in blood brooding in the doorway, waiting to see Ruby. Beside him stood Ren and Nora, lovingly embracing each other. Ren bent down slightly and kissed Nora on the mouth. So much for "not together-together," she smiled in amazement. Everyone has changed so much since the fall of Beacon.

"How much have I _missed_?" Weiss asked with a look of amusement.


	2. Shameless

**A/N I will warn you now. This is really just character's bonding and caring for each other and having fun. If you want the action/adventure bit you won't find it in this chapter, but if you need emotional support for the hiatus you will love this. This was initially supposed to be a one shot but Lady British said something along the lines of "something something epilogue something something Yang's arm" and then a bunch of other stuff happened.**

As sweet as it was that everyone was pushing to see Ruby, Winter decided that the girl probably did not need such a huge crowd after such a beating. She ordered them away and allowed them in one by one. She allowed Yang to go first since she was blood, and considerably less covered in the likes. She also ordered the others to go clean up and had Weiss put on some coffee. They all dispersed, except for Qrow who remained in the room beside Yang.

"If it's all the same to you, Ice Queen, I haven't seen both of my nieces in months. I'm staying here."

Qrow put an arm around Yang and Winter nodded curtly before shutting the living room door. He looked down at his oldest niece and smiled. She wrapped her arms tightly around him in a big, bone-crushing bear hug.

"I've missed you too you dusty old bird." Yang said, "But don't think I've forgiven you for convincing my baby sister to run off on a crazy reckless adventure. Crazy and reckless is _my_ thing, and we can all see where that got me." she finished, detaching her prosthetic limp and waving it around to make a point.

"Ewwww, Yang, put your arm back on!" Ruby cried out as she saw the blurry image unfold.

"Nah, it makes a really good backscratcher, see?" she teased and began to demonstrate.

"Well it seems to be a lot more than just that," Qrow smirked, "Considering how easily you broke the silver kid's face, and legs." Yang re-attached her arm and shrugged.

"What can I say, I'm _armed_ and ready." she grinned at her terrible joke.

"I'm sure the motorcycle helped a lot too. You know it's really not polite to run people over." Ruby gasped.

"Yang ran someone over with her motorcycle _and_ beat him up?!" Qrow nodded.

"Oh, it wasn't _someone_ , it was Mercury. I owed it to him after that singles match." Yang countered.

"Oh, yeah he was kind of a jerk. I would've run him over too." Ruby agreed. Qrow laughed and sat down between his nieces, arms behind his head.

"How's _your_ arm doing, Rubes?" Yang asked, suddenly serious and concerned.

"It's okay, it hurts a lot though, even with the bandages and the painkillers. I appreciate Winter's help and all, but I still kinda wish I could go to a hospital or something so that it sets right." Ruby sighed.

"Alright, alright fine. I'll talk to Winter about taking you to a hospital now that you're more stable. I'm still not trusting them 100% though. That little nurse who helped me made me more that a little uneasy." Qrow stood to leave, "I'll let you two catch up without me for a bit."

He hugged each of his nieces and walked to the door. He heard Yang begin telling Ruby everything that happened at home. "Did you know that Port is afraid of mice?" He heard Yang laugh. He shook his head as he walked through to the kitchen and moved to take a drink from his flask before he was interrupted by Winter clearing her throat. She looked at him pointedly.

"What, you want some?" he offered with a smirk. "Might help you clear that sore throat."

"No, thank you. I doubt highly that _that_ would clear anything." She sipped her coffee.

"Well I know another way to soothe a sore throat." He winked.

Winter choked slightly on her coffee and turned red, scowling at Qrow. She was just about to tell him off when Weiss walked in with a freshly cleaned Jaune Arc, now wearing just a t-shirt and his singed and bloody jeans. The boy sat quietly, obviously still trying to wrap his head around all that had happened that day. Weiss stood beside his seat with an anxious smile.

"Coffee Jaune?" Weiss asked him cautiously.

"No thank you Weiss." he said calmly, not changing expression. Qrow looked at the boy.

"Hey kid, come with me. I bet Ruby will want to see you." Qrow gestured for Jaune to follow.

"-and then I tripped him and grabbed his hand so he wouldn't get hurt too bad. He really did help a lot through my recovery. He pushed me, _hard_. At first I was angry because he was being so tough on me, it was like I was a little kid again. I thought he was punishing me for being so reckless, and he kinda was, but really he was helping me more than I ever expected. He made me fight to be strong, he made me push myself and made me _want_ to push myself harder. It helped me to grow and get back on my feet. I also felt a lot closer to him than before. I started to understand why he was how he was after mom died." Yang held her sister's hand gently.

"He was so worried about you. We never got any letters or any kind of sign that you were okay. In the end, that was what really pushed me to get off my ass. I know dad wanted to know you were okay but between being needed at Sanctum and having to babysit me, he was never going to be able to go after you himself. I knew I had to come find you, and know you were okay. Not just for him, but for me too. I missed you Ruby. I was mad at you for leaving, and you're still in big trouble for being so stupid, but I am so glad that you're alive." Yang wiped her eyes.

"I'm really okay, Yang. We did good. It was hard, a lot harder than I had expected, but we did it. We made it to Mistral and everyone is together. Well, almost everyone… And I did write, all the time..." Ruby trailed off. "I guess the letters never made it."

"Don't worry about that. How are your eyes doing?" Yang changed the subject.

"Well, they hurt and are really hard to open, but I can still kinda see a little. It hurts my head though." Ruby sighed. There was a knock at the door and Qrow walked in.

"Hey Firecracker, visiting time's over. Give someone else a turn." he teased. Yang frowned but complied. She was a little more understanding when she saw Jaune waiting stoically behind Qrow. She gave him a hug before.

"Thank you for taking care of her." she whispered, patting him on the back. He sighed.

"Don't thank me, I didn't do a very good job of it."

Jaune walked quietly into the room, ignoring the look shared between the blonde girl and her uncle. He sat down in the seat by his friend. Ruby Rose, the silver eyed warrior. She was the best fighter and best _friend_ had ever met, aside from Pyrrha. Even though they weren't on the same team, she still helped him get through so much trouble even when they weren't in a battle. He sighed sadly.

"This is all my fault." He said, voice cracking. He put his head in his hands.

"Nope." a small voice peeped up.

He looked up and saw Ruby, struggling to sit up. He hurried over and helped her adjust. She patted the spot beside her and he sat, just as they had so many times before. She held out her better arm and placed her hand on his shoulder and turned her burned face towards him.

"This isn't your fault Jaune. You didn't do this, Cinder did. You _saved_ me. I'm sitting here because of you. That's a good thing!" She squeezed his shoulder gently.

"But you're broken, and bruised, and burnt, and blind and I-"

"I'm not _blind_. Stop worrying, it could have been worse. I can still see, if I squint. My eyelids feel like they're made of stone, but I can still see a little bit. I guess they must look pretty bad though, huh." Ruby pondered. Jaune grinned a little bit.

"They look like built-in eye patches. Or permanent black eyes made of concrete." he joked.

Ruby chuckled, glad to have Jaune get a little bit back to his old self. He began to relax a bit after that. She asked him to tell her all about what happened after she got away and he obliged, even acting out some parts for her. She smiled and told him all about how she ended up at Winter's quarters. Then they started talking about food and Ruby's stomach groaned.

"Hmm, maybe I should see if Winter will let Ren cook some dinner." Jaune suggested before heading off to find Ren. On his way out he waved to Weiss to go in and see Ruby.

Ren leaned against the bathroom wall, looking at his partner silently as she washed her arms and hands. She had insisted that he clean himself up first, but he wished she hadn't. He slid down the wall and sat on his folded dirty clothes, remembering all of the damage she had taken in the fights. He caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Her face was smudged with dirt and blood, mostly her own. His mind was full and buzzing with worries for the future. He knew there would be more cuts and bruises and bloody noses, but he couldn't stand seeing her like this. He stood abruptly and grabbed one of the white washcloths from the pile and ran it under warm water before wringing it out.

He pulled her to sit on the floor with him, sitting her on his lap. He looked at her sadly and gently rubbed at her face with the cloth. The cloth was quickly tainted, turning from pristine white to a nasty dark brown but her beautiful face began to shine through. Once her face was clean he felt better and placed one of his fingers on her nose and smiled slightly.

"Boop."

Nora smiled wider and wider, until tears began to flow from her eyes and she threw her arms around her love. Her body shook with sobs and his shoulder grew damp. He held her close and allowed himself a few silent tears as well. He stroked her hair gently to comfort her and whispered calmly to her. She cried harder.

"We c-could have l-lost everyone today-ay. R-Ruby and Jaune and-and-and..." she whimpered and then gave in to the sobs. His heart sank, knowing she had been thinking the same thoughts he had been earlier.

"I know, but we didn't." He rubbed her back gently. She whimpered and tried to cease crying.

"We've lost so much, Ren. I can't loose any more." She began to cry again.

He leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth. He felt her tears against his face, dripping off her nose and chin and onto his chest. He embraced her again before taking her chin and pointing her head up to look at him. His soft pink eyes gazed at her lovingly.

"I love you, Nora. I could _never_ be able to handle losing you. But you're here and so am I, so are Jaune and Ruby and Weiss and Yang. We came out of that fight with _more_ people then we went in with. Isn't that lucky? Now dry your eyes and let's go down to the others."

Nora sniffed and nodded, wiping her eyes as she stood. She held her hand out to Ren and helped him up. She hugged him again and thanked him. He held her hands in front of him and gazed into her turquoise eyes. There was a knock and the door opened. Jaune jumped slightly and chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh, there you are Ren, heheh. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." He scratched the back of his head nervously. Ren smiled and turned to Nora.

"Do you remember that time Jaune pulled me out of the bathroom while I was wearing just a towel so that he could get advice on how to woo Weiss Schnee?" he asked her. She smiled.

"Yep, _I_ remember. That was _so_ embarrassing" She winked at Jaune. He rolled his eyes.

"Okay, very funny. I'm just not used to you two being so…" Jaune trailed off with a blush.

"Together-together?" Nora prompted teasingly.

"Just get out of the bathroom." he sighed. "Ren, we were kinda hoping you could help us out with some food. Oh, and Winter wanted me to give this to Nora." he said, holding out a light blue night dress similar to the one Ruby was wearing. Nora squealed happily and began undressing immediately, to Jaune's horror.

"Jaune, she has been doing this for years." Ren chuckled.

"Well I'm still not used to it." Jaune humphed.

"Don't you have, like, 12 sisters or something." Nora called out, muffled her shirt which was stuck over her face. Ren pulled it off for her with a grin.

" _7_ sisters. And _they_ didn't undressed in front of me _or_ throw their clothes at me whenever they had to change." Jaune crossed his arms.

"In fairness, she always threw her clothes at _me_." Ren countered before walking downstairs to make food.

Nora winked at him and skipped down the steps behind him. Jaune smiled and followed them. It _was_ nice to see his friends so happy together. He couldn't help but wonder if he and Pyrrha would be so happy all the time. He shook the thought from his mind, not wanting to make himself sad again. She would be so proud of how far his skills had come. He picked up all of the dirty clothes and put them with his and then headed downstairs to join his friends.

"So… How long do you think he'll be out scouting?" Yang asked Winter over a cup of coffee.

"If I'm lucky, a _very_ long time. Of course, I am rarely lucky so probably only an hour or two."

Winter smiled slightly and drank from her coffee. Yang looked at her strangely but didn't say anything yet. The pair had gotten along well so far. Yang expressed her gratitude for Winter helping her sister and Winter made her some coffee to thank Yang for suggesting that Qrow go out and scout ahead to make sure their residence would be safe that night. Yang felt slightly intimidated by the older woman. It was like a snapshot of what Weiss would have been like if instead of meeting team RWBY she joined the military and worked for a man who was half metal. Still, she was pleasant enough.

"So why are you here? Shouldn't you been in Atlas with the other soldiers?" Yang asked.

"That's classified." Winter raised and eyebrow, avoiding the question.

"That sounds like a fancy excuse for not wanting to talk about it. C'mon, tell your auntie Yang all about it."

"Yang, you are ten years younger than I am. You are not my 'auntie' anything." Winter quipped.

"Some families have weird younger aunts" Yang said with a shrug. "But c'mon, why _here_?"

"If you must know, I'm not very wanted in Atlas. When father took Weiss away from Beacon I asked James- General Ironwood, to send me as far away as he could, fearful that he may come for me too. It just so happened that he needed an agent he could trust to watch over Mistral discretely. I would call it lucky, but I feel so much guilt for my cowardice."

"So here you are in a quaint little apartment in Mistral, hiding from your dad under the guise of work." Yang summarized. Winter made a face of disdain but Yang cut off her argument.

"Good thing you did or Weiss wouldn't have had anywhere to run to to get away from your asshole father. _And_ Ruby wouldn't have gotten such good medical treatment because let's face it, Qrow cares but he's also a little paranoid."

"Well, he is many things, but his paranoia is justified. As much as I am loathed to admit it, I don't doubt his instincts. He is a very experienced hunter." Winter nodded. Yang grinned wickedly.

"Yuck, he's my uncle, I don't want to hear about your experiences with him." She fake gagged. Winter frowned and then chuckled.

"You know Yang, I was enjoying our conversation up until this point. Now I'm afraid I must ask you to leave." She smiled coyly and summoned a Beowulf to her side. Yang laughed.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that to make me leave. Once I vow to stay somewhere, I do it. Especially if my sister needs me there." she said proudly. Winter smiled.

"I wish I could've been as good of an older sister as you. Strong and loving no matter what, completely unmovable…" Winter sighed. "Maybe Weiss and Whitley wouldn't have suffered so much as children if I had just shown them the love that they weren't getting…" Winter teared up.

"Hey, don't feel bad. I only got this way because I've been abandoned and lonely for most of my life. It's kinda depressing actually. But hey, you can make up for it now that you have Weiss here!" Yang tried to cheer her up.

"I suppose. I've never been the warmest person though." Winter sighed.

"Oh believe me, I've noticed. But really, Weiss won't mind. I mean, hey, she was starry eyed when she saw your ship appear and was even excited to see you after you gave her a goose egg. You just have to try a bit. Honestly, she really loves you and definitely looks up to you. I can tell, it's a big sister thing. But honestly, you seem more relaxed now than you did when you came to expect our dorm at Beacon." Yang assured her. Winter laughed lazily.

"I assure you that's all your daft uncle's fault." Yang covered her ears

"Whoah, hey, like I said. That's my uncle. I don't want to hear about your 'experiences' 'kay?"

"No not that, you silly child. He's been pouring his flask into my coffee every time my back is turned. I'm sure he knows that I know he's doing it, but it keeps him from drinking it" she giggled.

"Although there is a sick kind of peace I have now. It's so stressful, waiting to see if war will break out or not. Now that it has and we've successfully down three powerful enemies I _do_ feel a little less on edge. And it really _is_ nice to speak to someone as laid back as yourself. I understand why Weiss enjoyed being with your team so much. Thank you so much for taking care of her, all of you, for helping her to break out of the shell our father molded around her." Winter smiled and patted Yang's hand.

"Hey, that's my niece Ice Queen." Qrow said teasingly as he walked through the door, wind beaten but otherwise unharmed. "No putting the moves on her. I'm watching you, Schnee."

"Hey you dirty bird, don't be jealous just because she likes me more that she likes you." Yang shot back, interlacing her fingers with a shocked Winter. Winter looked between the two and they laughed. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You're whole family is mad Branwen." She shook her head. Qrow grinned.

"We're mad, but at least we all love each other." he shrugged.

"Yeah!" Yang echoed happily.

"YEAH!" Nora shouted as she jumped into the kitchen. "What are we happy about?"

"Pancakes, Nora." Ren reminded her.

"Pancakes!" Nora cheered.

"Pancakes?" Ruby asked hazily as Weiss helped her into the kitchen.

"Can we have cocoa too?" Weiss asked Winter sweetly. The Atlesian Specialist put her head in her hands. _My home has become a mad house_. She sighed but smiled.

"Yes, I think you all have earned some cocoa." Winter nodded and stood to make a pot.

"Now could anyone who isn't cooking _please_ go to a different room? This is a kitchen, not a circus. Kitchens are meant for cooking."

"Thank you!" Ren agreed.


End file.
